New Delhi, Oct 19: In an apparent security goof up, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has given away sensitive details about exact locations of Army forward bases, their altitude and their dimensions along the border with China and Pakistan in a commercial open tender on its website.
The tender was issued earlier this month by the IAF to hire private and public sector helicopters for ferrying Army troops and cargo to forward bases in Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.
In the 30-page Request for Proposal (RFP), the IAF has given the exact latitude and longitude of helipads and the requirements for the loads to be carried to those bases. It also gives out details of the heights at which the helipads are located.
Senior Army officers said such details were classified in nature and should not have been given in an open tender.
The 84 helipads whose details have been given out are located in places including Kishtwar, Kupwara, Tangdhar, Kanzalwan, Parlian Gali in Jammu and Kashmir and Tawang, Daporjo, Bhawani Drop Zone, Yangtze, Forward Post Tapukhar and Taksing in Arunachal Pradesh near the Chinese boundary.
The RFP also gives out the dimensions of the helipads located in the sensitive areas in these two areas.
